Sheep

Norway has 300 fur farms, which breed and kill approximately 700,000 minks and 110,000 foxes every year, so this is a significant progress for the rights of animals not to be exploited abused and killed simply for fashion or to produce garments which are no longer necessary in modern times when there are so many synthetic cruelty free alternatives.

We need also to turn our attention to the plight of sheep, who for many people seem less obvious victims of abuse concerning their exploitation for wool, yet another product that is not necessary and like fur involves horrific abuse

Please take action and help prevent animal cruelty in the wool industry as sheep are abused and killed for their wool.

“A disturbing new PETA video exposé of the Australian wool industry—the world’s top wool exporter—reveals that extreme cruelty to sheep continues unabated. Exposés in dozens of shearing sheds on three continents show workers punch, kick, cut up, stomp on, mutilate, and throw sheep down chutes like garbage bags.

This latest exposé shows more of the same—sheep shearers in Australia violently punched these gentle animals in the face and beat and jabbed them in the head with sharp metal shears. The attacks often left the petrified sheep bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth.

After PETA exposed rampant extreme cruelty to sheep across Australia in 2014, the video evidence resulted in landmark cruelty convictions against shearers, and the wool industry assured the public that such abuse would no longer be tolerated. But as this exposé shows, absolutely nothing has changed for sheep, and the cruelty is as severe as ever.”

Please continue reading and send a message to Urge Express and Forever 21 to drop wool in favour of animal-friendly materials. Click the Take Action button to send the message which you can edit using your own words if you can do so, if not please send it as it is.

Leave wool and other clothing derived from animals such as mohair and fur out of your wardrobe. There are humane modern fabrics such as cotton, rayon, acrylic, hemp and nylon. Modern synthetic fibres are more versatile, warmer, easy to care for and most importantly humane.

I have a fondness for timid gentle sheep whom I often see grazing in the countryside close to where I live, out in all weathers often suffering injuries, neglected, open to the elements, predators and all manner of hazards. Sheep suffer like all farm animals for products we do not need, namely meat and wool.

Please help sheep by changing to a vegan lifestyle and keep wool out of your wardrobe and meat off your plate.

Related Links

Read more about the brutality of the wool industry

The Wool Industry

“Sheep are gentle individuals who, like all animals, feel pain, fear, and loneliness. But because there’s a market for their fleece and skins, they’re treated as nothing more than wool-producing machines.

If they were left alone and not genetically manipulated, sheep would grow just enough wool to protect themselves from temperature extremes. The fleece provides them with effective insulation against both cold and heat.”

Though the next article was written back in 2014 the brutality continues, nothing has changed for sheep exploited by the wool industry.

A wool jumper is just as cruel as a mink coat

A Peta film shows workers who beat, kick, stamp on, throw, mutilate and even kill sheep as they shear them

“The investigators saw shearers violently punch struggling sheep, and beat and jab them in the face with sharp shears, leaving the gentle animals bleeding from their eyes, nose and mouth. One shearer repeatedly twisted and bent a sheep’s neck, finally breaking it.”

“Most shearers are paid by volume, not by the hour, which means that they have an incentive to work as quickly as they can, with little regard for the sheep’s welfare. Investigators recorded shearers who processed up to 27 sheep per hour and up to 35 lambs. Such fast and often violent work can lead to severe cuts on sheep’s abdomens, hindquarters and limbs – even on sheep’s penises. Large swaths of skin were also cut or ripped off the bodies of many sheep by the shearers.

“…injured sheep were shot dead in full view of their companions, and one was even butchered and left in full view of other terrified sheep.”

In recent months there has been a spate of sheep racing here in the UK. During these races a stuffed toy such as a teddy bear is strapped to the back of sheep and the sheep are made to run in a so called race for entertainment, usually at some kind of village fair.

The latest takes place in Masham in the Yorkshire Dales September 30th -October 31st.

These races are stressful for timid sheep. Participating in such a race will be terrifying for them. Concerning this particular event the sheep are probably sacred enough as it is being exhibited amongst a crowd of people, this race is an additional fear for them and is unnecessary. Animals are not here for our entertainment. This event is extremely crowded with loud music and so on. It is not really a race, sheep are thrown into a panic and stampede.

Please sign the following petition

Cancel the Cruel Sheep Race element of the Masham Sheep Fair on 30th September-1st October

“Following on from the success of three sheep races and a pig race cancelled using Care2 petitions:

The Masham Sheep Fair in Yorkshire will be help on Saturday 30th September and Sunday 1st October. Sheep races are due to be held on both days.

Sheep are naturally timid and quiet animals. Sheep are not natural runners and making them race is unnatural, exploitative, degrading and frightening. Animals are not ours to use for entertainment. There are many other things going on at this fair – the sheep race is totally unnecessary.

Please sign my petition to tell the organisers to cancel this event! “

Please note the update at the end of the petition and take as many of the actions as you can.

“Thank you to all who have signed so far. I have set up a Facebook Online Action for this weekend. I would be really grateful if you could all take part in that also. Please see below for the link to the event with all the details.https://www.facebook.com/events/269741096878396
Please could you all do as many of the following as you can:
Email organiser Susan Cunliffe-Lister: susan@burtonagnes.com
Send a Facebook message and leave a 1 star review at:https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashamsheepfair

Maybe many people would think that this is no big deal in a world of turmoil and appalling suffering but for the animals concerned it is a significant trauma and it is animal cruelty. Maybe the organisers simply do not see it this way so please try and persuade them that this is cruel by writing a polite and persuasive e-mail to the organiser Susan Cunliffe-Lister: susan@burtonagnes.com and taking the other suggested actions. There are after all other events and this sheep show is popular in the area and has been so for many years without this race. My family and I went a long time ago before we knew better. I am fond of sheep but this is not a place for people who love sheep or any animal. It is exploitative, even if the organisers do not see it that way. I think there are few people who are deliberately cruel, it’s just that they do not realise the harm that they do.

As anyone who has visited my website will know I am very fond of sheep, one of the most gentle of animals on the planet. The shocking cruelty below sickens me, it is one of the many atrocities inflicted upon these defenceless animals, it is brutal and unnecessary and it has to stop. I say unnecessary but frankly there can never ever be any situation where any cruelty to any animal is necessary.

Please read on and take as many of the suggested actions as possible to bring an end to this horrifying inhumane treatment of sheep

Warning! Disturbing images of cruelty to these defenceless gentle animals

“Two years ago, PETA exposed Patagonia’s wool supplier for skinning sheep who were still alive. Once word got out, the brand stopped buying wool from that supplier and made a list of “stringent” standards for its new suppliers.

Yet once again PETA has exposed disturbing abuse connected to a Patagonia-approved wool producer.

Please read the following and send a message to tell retailer Patagonia to stop selling wool

Patagonia says its mission is to “cause no unnecessary harm,” so why is a wool supplier associated with whipping and mutilating pregnant sheep and forcing them to give birth in a freezing desert on its approved list?

In April 2017, PETA observers went to Utah to visit a shearing operation associated with Red Pine Land & Livestock, LLC, which was listed on the company’s website as an approved supplier until the day it saw PETA’s expose. Here’s what that looked like:

Please continue reading and send a message to tell Patagonia to drop all wool immediately!

Please also take action if you have not already done so concerning Chilean sheep farms:

More Proof the Wool Industry Is HEARTLESS – warning distressing images. How people can be so cruel is beyond my comprehension. Just heartbreaking.

“The cruelty documented on these Chilean sheep farms is not unique, and similar abuses have been documented in the United States, Argentina, and Australia—the world’s largest wool exporter. Please, don’t forget the gentle sheep who suffer in the wool industry all around the world, and choose clothing that doesn’t contain wool. It’s easy to check the label, and if it says “Italian wool”—or any kind of wool—just leave it on the shelf.

Sign our petition urging Chilean officials to prosecute workers who cut into the necks of fully conscious sheep—without doing anything to minimize their pain—in apparent violation of Chile’s animal protection law.https://campaigns.peta2.com/chile-wool-industry/#pledge The link takes you straight to the petition There is more information at the beginning of the petition however the images included are extremely distressing.

Even in the most ideal situation sheep suffer from exploitation when they are farmed for their wool. The most effective way to bring an end to this aspect of cruelty to sheep is to stop buying wool.

Sheep are sentient beings. Like us they are mammals andlike us they feel pain and suffer fear.

In the articles below you can read about sentience in sheep and about the exploitation of these gentle animals.

Please take action, send the PETA messages to retailer Patagonia and to Chilean officials and share widely and take as many of the other suggested actions as you can. There is a template message, edit with your own words if possible but if for some reason you cannot do this send it as it is.

If you do not have a lot of time at least please send the PETA messages.

Please stop eating meat and wearing wool the most effective way to bring an end to cruelty to sheep.

Here is some light relief , enjoy a video showing lambs happy, well cared for and loved in a sanctuary

Related Links

The following link has more information about the exploitation of sheep and more actions you can take to being an end to their suffering and exploitation.

The following article shows that investigations by animal rights groups such as PETA are effective, however the best way to stop this cruelty is to STOP WEARING WOOL. Be aware that although this prosecution was successful many many similar cases of abuse go uninvestigated and unreported. As already mentioned even in ideal conditions of welfare sheep suffer, they suffer to provide you with a clothing material you now no longer need as synthetic materials are much better, more comfy, warmer and easier to care for. Sheep also suffer to provide you with a food you do not need. At the end of the day most sheep are brutally slaughtered and most of your wool comes from slaughtered sheep.

“True benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation.”
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) (English essayist, poet, playwright and politician)

When I first saw the engraving above, I had not up until then seen the painting, I was profoundly moved, the artist has captured the anguish of the grieving ewe at the death of her tiny lamb.

Detail from the painting Auguish

Standing in the bleak snowy landscape of winter with large back birds (crows) waiting to devour the flesh of her newborn her sorrow is palpable. I find that in fact the engraving more keenly portrays the bleakness of despair than the painting.

I mostly appreciate art for aesthetic reasons but since seeing this work anguish most certainly conveys a meaningful message, particularly in view of the time of year and the recent death from exposure, pneumonia and hyperthermia of an estimated million tiny lambs here in the UK.

Schenck 1828 – 1901 was known for his paintings of animals, many of which were thought to be allegorical .

In Anguish, Schenck has given his distraught ewe an expression suggestive of despair mingled with stoic determination. Recognizing these decidedly human responses, the viewer might be expected to identify immediately with the animal’s grim predicament. The ewe’s bravery in the face of the threat posed by the murderous circle of crows is perhaps, however, somewhat overstated in her defiant stance above the bleeding lamb.

There is little subtlety evident in this work. Although Anguish has a sentimental quality, Schenck did not intend this to be overt. Indeed, his sincerity in portraying the nobility in animals was not lost on his contemporaries, with a critic for Le Figaro describing the artist in 1878 as ‘One of our finest animal painters. He is one of those originals of the species not yet extinct who prefer dogs to men and find more sweetness in sheep than women’. This is by no means a derogatory statement, but is, rather, a testament to Schenck’s abilities as a painter. Interestingly, if we accept that there is an anthropomorphic quality in Anguish, then the surreal massing of the crows may well be Schenck’s method of alluding to the inhumanity prevalent in society

“A mother has just lost her child; it is winter, and there’s no food. She knew he was in danger, she tried to feed him, she tried to keep him safe but in the end, after yet another bitter night, he succumbed. Her grief feels all the more real, all the more like ours, for being inarticulate and wordless; pure anguish. The crows are unbearably cruel. They gather when another is in agony; they sense the opportunity opened up by the problems of others. They are like the people we most fear – those who like it when we are miserable. The scene reminds us of a possibility we glimpse perhaps only in our own worst moments: that we won’t always be able to protect what we love, our children, our homes, our dignity… That they might win.”

While the above perspectives treat this mostly as a metaphor for Human anguish and despair such of course can be manifest in animals, and sheep have emotions similar to our own.

Consider the following:

Sheep are capable of compassion and will help others even those of another species

Jeffery Massom in this book ‘The pig who Sang to the moon’ tells the story of Rammo, ” a macho two-year old Ramouillet ram” who formed a special and compassionate bond with Whisper, a cow who was born blind.

“Rams tend to be loners, and he was a pretty tough ram, so it seemed unusual that he would take up with a blind member of another species. But he did”

“He would graze next to her all day and guide her about the field, making certain she did not bump into the fence or posts…When she had a calf , Shout, sired by an Angus bull, Rammo behaved paternally toward the young animal, more so than even to his own offspring, several bouncy lambs. Whisper lived to be four years and than died in 1996 of a viral infection. Rammo mourned her a long time, standing by her dead body, calling and calling.”

Sheep grieve for their loved ones

10 Things Most People Don’t Know About Sheep

“Research has shown that many animals grieve for their lost loved ones, but did you know that sheep do too? When they lose someone they love, it can completely shake their world and leave them feeling lost and unsettled for months. Sheep have been known to cry out for their lost friends and family in a desperate attempt to understand why they are no longer here.”http://www.care2.com/causes/10-things-most-people-dont-know-about-sheep.html

Sheep fall in love and have best friends

(A) study showed that ewes fall in love with rams, have best friends and feel desolate when those close to them die or are sent for slaughter. The discovery could have important implications for the way farm animals are treated.Jonathan Leake, Science Edito

So it can be established that sheep are capable of grief, therefore it is reasonable that the artist was actually portraying the anguish of the sheep and there was in fact no philosophical implication relating to human beings as such, though of course it can be implied. I am not inclined to accept artistic interpretations if they do not originate from the artist his or herself.

Maybe the art should be taken at face value which may be to convey the agony/anguish of a ewe for her dead lamb.

Personally I rather like this description with the exception of the reference to sheep being the humble servants of man:

” All the world to-day regards Schenck as one of our first animal-painters. He is one of those originals, of a species not yet extinct, who prefer dogs to men, and finds more sweetness in sheep than in women. With such fancies one leaves the city for the fields, and has only to do with animals. Our artist has taken this part after having profoundly studied his fellow-creatures. Retired to Ecouen, to a farm, he lives in the midst of oxen, dogs, goats, asses, horses and sheep of all types, races, and species ; cares for them, cultivates them, loves them, and above all studies them, as never artist studied his models. He knows better than any one their habitual behavior, their favorite poses, their preferred attitudes, and the mobile play of their physi- ognomies. By means of studying closely the joys and griefs of these’ modest companions and humble servants of man, he has penetrated the inmost recesses of their souls, which he knows how to show us in pictures of striking truth. His animals’ heads are portraits particularized with all the care which Cabanel, Uubufe, and Bonnat gave to the human mask. The picture which he exhibits to-day under the title of ‘Angoisses, ‘ is pathetic to the last degree. A lamb is wounded, lying on the ground, losing its blood, which pours out of a” horrible wound. The ravens, with their infallible instinct, scent the approaching death, and await their prey; their sinister circle is closed in, — the unfortunate little beast cannot escape them. The mother is- there ; she comprehends it, the poor creature ! the fate which awaits her dear nursling, and broken-hearted, full of anguish [it is the title of the picture, and it is just], she bleats for the shepherd who comes not. It is a little drama, this picture, and as poignant as if it had men for actors and victims.”

Below another poignant painting by the same artist entitled The Orphan. Below is a print of this painting.

A similar subject but in reverse the Orphan Lamb left to fend for his or herself.

His animals’ heads are veritable portraits. In the picture of The Orphan (which is a companion to Anguish, exhibited with it) the mother is dead or dying, and the ravens with their infallible instinct scent the soon-to-be carrion and close their sinister circle round the sheep and lamb. The poor living helpless lamb will hardly escape them. It is a tragedy, and as poignant as if it had a mother and child for actors and victims. There are few artists more popular than Schenck and we find the reflected judgment of the connoisseurs confirming the instantaneous verdict of the multitude.”

While the whys and wherefores, interpretations, history and so on are all very interesting; it is the subject of the art that rings so true. Both paintings depict the despair and anguish of these creatures extremely well. According to this article the painting has also been called Agony and indeed the agony of fear and sorrow is expressed on the sheep’s face and indeed on the face of the orphaned lamb. Amazing art, so powerful, so moving.

Tiny fragile lambs born too early as a result of human manipulation to ensure they are ready for Easter. Very much like the paintings, no shepherd comes.

Apparently in a very literal way a bird similar to crows; ravens, are harming/killing newborn lambs, yet another hazard to contend with. Hundreds of lambs die as a result of conservation gone wrong, even 10 to 12 ewes have died as a result of attacks by ravens.

“During the course of a Sunday lunch we happened to look out of the kitchen window at our young lambs playing happily in the fields. Glancing at our plates, we suddenly realized that we were eating the leg of an animal who had until recently been playing in a field herself. We looked at each other and said, “Wait a minute, we love these sheep–they’re such gentle creatures. So why are we eating them?” It was the last time we ever did.”Linda and Paul McCartney

If you have time for nothing else please take the following action to help sheep:

There are more actions you can take to help sheep further down. Please take as many as you can.

Spring is here – well if you live in the northern hemisphere it is. Nothing says spring more than baby animals, particularly lambs, though sadly the fate of these tiny creatures mars the pleasure of seeing these sweet gentle beings frolicking in meadows and uplands here in the British countryside. It breaks your heart to know that soon these innocent helpless creatures will be taken from their mothers and brutally slaughtered to provide meat eaters with a food that they do not need and is not natural.

The life of a tiny lamb is short, in general only about four months unless he or she is required for breeding. Some are killed after only 10 weeks, a cruel end to a life which begins with such exuberant joy.

“I do not like eating meat because I have seen lambs and pigs killed. I saw and felt their pain. They felt the approaching death. I could not bear it. I cried like a child. I ran up a hill and could not breathe. I felt that I was choking. I felt the death of the lamb.”Vaslav Nijinsky

Watch the Life of a Lamb in 60 seconds. Warning very shocking images of cruelty

Video From Animal Equality:http://www.animalequality.net/node/683 This was filmed in farms and slaughter houses in Italy, but much the same happens worldwide. Though the campaign, which was to reduce lamb consumption in Italy for Easter 2015, is a couple of years old the problem of course remains and with the approach of Easter yet more innocent tiny lambs will meet the same fate.

If you eat meat and consume lamb it is likely on average you will have been responsible for the death of 23 lambs in your lifetime.

Lambs just like this one

or the adorable lamb in the video further down who is now safe in a sanctuary.

How about knit wear made from wool, even lambs wool? Lambs have so little wool so please do not think that someone comes along with a pair of shears and gently cuts their fleece. Lambs wool is of course always taken from slaughtered lambs. Adult sheep inevitably suffer the same fate, even though they may be sheared for a few years prior to slaughter eventually they will be killed for meat. In the meantime other than provide wool, a ewe’s main purpose is to give birth every year until they ‘re too old to do so at which time they too will be mercilessly killed. Ewes are sent to slaughter from four to eight years old when their breeding days are over.

What of rams? Ever wondered why you see so few rams?

Usually there are about 38 ewes to one ram.

Ram lambs not required for mating are killed within a day or two after being born – they will never smell the sweet air of spring or leap and play in the fields.

Wool and meat are all the products of the slaughter and other abuse of a gentle defenceless animal who wishes to live as much as you or I.

Shearing is often a brutal savage experience as you will see in the following video

If you buy a garment made of wool you support a cruel and bloody industry. There is no excuse, there are plenty of synthetic fibres many of which are in my opinion warmer than wool, easier to care for and are more durable. However even if this was not so, there is never any justification for such cruelty to another sentient being. Wool belongs to lambs and sheep. It evolved to protect them from severe weather, their fleece effectively providing insulation against both cold and heat. At one time prior to human interference sheep grew just enough wool to protect them from extreme temperatures, they naturally shed their wool in warmer weather.

Read about the cruelty that lies behind the wool industry including museling :

“In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world’s merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—originates, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called “mulesing,” in which huge chunks of skin are cut from the animals’ backsides, often without any painkillers.”Read More and please click the Action Button

It all seems so idyllic when you see tiny lambs gambolling on a warm summer’s day and you see all the hype on TV and elsewhere about lambing.

The truth of the matter is much different.

Did you know that rather than being born in the spring as the farming industry would have you believe, millions of lambs are born in January when it is bitterly cold and when a million of these babies die of hypothermia.This is done to provide meat eaters with lamb for Easter. Over the years farmers have interfered with the natural breeding cycle. High prices are paid for Easter lamb and many farmers have changed this cycle so that lambs are born earlier.

Read about the truth that lies behind sheep farming that the BBC’s popular Lambing Live programme glosses over .

“Although many see it as the ultimate in free-range farming, the seemingly idyllic scene of a ewe and her lambs grazing is misleading. These animals spend their entire lives under human control. Behind the pastoral image lies an industry that relies on the mutilation of baby animals – and where life for many sheep and lambs is short and filled with pain, disease and fear.”

My husband and I are regular visitors to the Yorkshire Dale and Moors and the Durham Dales. It is a delight in spring to see the mothers with their curious playful lambs. They ‘re so full of joy, skipping and jumping or lying close to one another in the summer sunshine. This is of course in April or later. Earlier in the year it is a sad experience to see these tiny lambs huddled near their mothers who also are struggling to survive against the cold of winter, yes I have seen lambs as early as January and most certainly by mid February and early March when the wind can be bitter with driving rain, sleet and snow. The Yorkshire Moors and Dales are beautiful scenic places and on a visit in spring or summer many people are oblivious to the realities of this harsh climate in which these fragile animals have to endure. The lucky ones who survive, if lucky is indeed the correct word, will in a few short months be rounded up and taken to slaughter. There is definitely a different feel to the place when all these tiny beings so full of life are taken away. One weekend you can be driving through or hiking and see hundreds of lambs and their mothers and the following week the hills are bare of these baby creatures, only the mothers remain to face another autumn when once gain they are impregnated and endure the whole miserable cycle again.

Lambs are beautiful creatures, gentle often friendly. We have had lambs and sometimes their mothers come up to us curious about us as we are about them, though the mothers can be very protective of their offspring and you can be met with loud angry bleats. So unless they readily approach you when hill walking it is best to leave them alone as many sheep are timid creatures.

Lambs and sheep of course are sentient like your dog or your cat:

“Sheep show compassion! Form bonds!

Judge for yourself.

Jeffery Massom in this book The pig who Sang to the Moon tells the story of Rammo, ” a macho two-year old Ramouillet ram” who formed a special and compassionate bond with Whisper, a cow who was born blind.

“Rams tend to be loners, and he was a pretty tough ram, so it seemed unusual that he would take up with a blind member of another species. But he did”

“He would graze next to her all day and guide her about the field, making certain she did not bump into the fence or posts…When she had a calf , Shout, sired by an Angus bull, Rammo behaved paternally toward the young animal, more so than even to his own offspring, several bouncy lambs. Whisper lived to be four years and than died in 1996 of a viral infection. Rammo mourned her a long time, standing by her dead body, calling and calling”

Look at the video of this adorable lamb, surely there can be no doubt that this little animal is a thinking, feeling, aware being.

Related Links

Read more about the cruel abuse of sheep and lambs :

“Each year over 4 million sheep die of cold and hunger, the complications of pregnancy, injury, infestation and illness such as pneumonia and exposure. Each year one million lambs die of exposure. Often blamed on foxes, in reality the high losses are the direct result of neglect and exploitation by farmers themselves.”

“The life of a tiny lamb is short, in general only about four months unless he or she is required for breeding. Some are killed after only 10 weeks. Ram lambs not required for mating are killed within a day or two after being born. Ewes are killed from four to eight years after their breeding days are over. The meat from older sheep is called mutton and is less popular than lamb and used for processed foods.”

Please read the following information from PETA and take the recommended actions

“PETA recently revealedcruelty to sheepat “sustainable” farms in the Ovis 21 network in Argentina and is now exposing another wool farm there. At this farm, workers cut off parts of gentle lambs’ ears, put tight rings around their scrotums, and cut off their tails—all without any pain relief. Shearers hit sheep with electric clippers, slammed them to the floor, and kicked and stood on them. Fast, rough shearing left many sheep cut and bleeding, and they weren’t given any painkillers before workers used a needle and thread to sew up their gaping wounds.

After receiving the footage, Chargeurs—a company that supplies wool to retailers around the world—cut ties with the farm, which it had trusted for years. The cruelty documented on this farm is not unique, and similar abuses have also been found at dozens of farms and shearing sheds across Australia and the U.S. There’s simply no such thing as “humane wool,” and that’s why rejecting wool is the best way to help protect lambs and sheep from abuse.

Do read the information if you can. Warning there are upsetting graphics and videos. If you wish to take the actions without seeing the graphics Click the Take Action Button which takes you directly to the message.

Chargeurs

Please thank Chargeurs for cutting ties with this Argentinian farm, and also urge the company to move away completely from buying and selling wool. It’s time for the company to shift to sourcing vegan wool as more and more consumers look for clothes that are not the product of cruelty.

Please ask leading sellers of wool to drop it immediately in favor of animal-friendly materials. For Ralph Lauren, click the following link and use the form at the bottom of the webpage. For J.Crew, send an e-mail to mdrexler@jcrew.com from your personal account.

Sheep are amazing creatures more intelligent than you may realise. They are sentient beings and feel pain and suffer as you or I your cat or your dog. There should be no place in any modern ethical society that allows the mistreatment and terrible cruelty that is handed out to sheep the world over day after day after suffering day.

Please send as many of the above messages as you can and please stop buying wool and change your diet to vegan to help not only the horrific exploitation of sheep but other helpless defenceless animals who suffer unimaginable cruelty very single day of their short lives.

Here is a lovely story that shows sheep to be sentient creatures capable of compassion, caring and forming bonds.

Jeffery Massom in this book The pig who Sang to the moon tells the story of Rammo, ” a macho two-year old Ramouillet ram” who formed a special and compassionate bond with Whisper, a cow who was born blind.

“Rams tend to be loners, and he was a pretty tough ram, so it seemed unusual that he would take up with a blind member of another species. But he did”

“He would graze next to her all day and guide her about the field, making certain she did not bump into the fence or posts…When she had a calf , Shout, sired by an Angus bull, Rammo behaved paternally toward the young animal, more so than even to his own offspring, several bouncy lambs. Whisper lived to be four years and than died in 1996 of a viral infection. Rammo mourned her a long time, standing by her dead body, calling and calling.

Anyone who has sent the PETA message to Patagonia has most likely received the following e-mail from PETA. Please read and take the suggested action.

“Last week, we showed you an eyewitness video of workers abusing, mutilating, and neglecting lambs and sheep exploited for wool. Thank you for taking action!

PETA is pleased to report that Patagonia has halted all wool purchases following the release of that highly disturbing video evidence of violent cruelty to animals on farms that are part of the Ovis 21 network in Argentina—the clothing company’s wool supplier. Patagonia’s CEO has announced that the company won’t buy wool again until it’s assured of “the humane treatment of animals.” PETA praises the new move, as all steps are good steps, but cautions that as Patagonia delves deeper into the wool supply chain, it will find that cruelty will always be a part of wool production—as we have found in Australia, the U.S., and now Argentina. If the company is honest, we doubt it could return to buying real wool again.

No matter where wool comes from, lambs and sheep will suffer when their tails are cut off and they’re painfully castrated. And all sheep used for their wool are eventually slaughtered when their usefulness wears out—including those who are punched, thrown, and cut up during shearing, something that PETA has found occurs at shearing sheds around the world.

Please take a moment to thank Patagonia for halting its wool purchases and urge the company to drop wool for good.

Please go to the this link http://investigations.peta.org/ovis-lamb-slaughter-sheep-cruelty/#pledge and send the latest message thanking Patagonia for deciding to stop buying wool until it can ensure that animals are treated humanely but also reminding them that no matter where wool comes from, lambs and sheep will suffer having their tails cut off and painful castration and other abuses such as kicking and punching and rough shearing. There is a template letter but please try and use your own words if possible but please send and share.

This is good news indeed. Though as the letter explains there is always cruelty involved in the wool industry. One way to stop this of course is to stop buying wool.

Never forget that sheep are sentient creatures who suffer terribly as a result of their exploitation for wool and meat.